February 2006

What’s going on at Ohio State?

A senior blogs about her research in Antarctica. A study discovers just how costly divorce can be. An undergrad plays a critical role in NASA’s Mars rover project. Ohio State basketball star Jessica Davenport opens up. A group of Ohio State students spend the first week of winter break working in New Orleans. Ohio State researchers find that car make plays a big role in how environmentally friendly a vehicle is. A two-time grad helps Ohio State research Alzheimer’s Disease. In March, Tom Brokaw comes to campus. And the Alumni Association wants to hear about the best Ohio State grads.

Blogging from the bottom of the world

After fall quarter finals, Liz Miller could have gone home to Cincinnati to catch up with high school friends and sleep in. Instead, the Ohio State senior, a geological sciences major, hopped on a plane (well, five planes) and went to Antarctica, where she’s analyzing lake and stream samples to study global warming.

In the two months Miller has been in Antarctica, she's melted snow to drink, hiked up the mile-high Observation Hill, and met Senator John McCain. In her spare moments, Miller has been blogging. She's telling a growing audience back in Ohio about everything from building “the Taj Mahal of igloos” to rubbing elbows with McCain, “a really cool guy"-- and showing off plenty of pictures of one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Read Miller's blog and see a slideshow.

Marriage, divorce and moola

Want to get rich -- or at least, richer? Ohio State research scientist Jay Zagorsky has some advice: Get married and stay married.

Zagorsky recently finished a nationwide study found that divorce chops a person's wealth by 77 percent, while marriage nearly doubles it, with a 93 percent gain.

Read more details.

Early riser: Mapping Mars at dawn

Jeremiah Glascock won’t get his bachelor’s degree in geomatics engineering until June. But even before he has his diploma, Glascock is one of the first people in the world to see new images from NASA’s two Mars rovers.

The job has its downside: Glascock, who’s on campus by 6 each weekday morning, sacrifices sleep. But the images and data he downloads are the first step in Ohio State’s process of making rover path maps, which NASA scientists use to decide where the golf-cart sized rovers should go next. “It’s pretty cool,” he says.

Learn more about Ohio State’s rover mapping project.

Big Ten Player of the Year on bball, life

Jessica Davenport is a busy woman. When the six-five, 205-pound basketball superstar isn’t leading Ohio State’s women’s team to victory on the court, she’s talking to elementary school students about staying in school or reading to kids at the Columbus library. She also carried the torch before the 2005 Special Olympics.

“Our schedules are so hectic during the season that whenever you get a couple of hours to yourself it’s nice to actually be able to get something accomplished,” Davenport says.

Read the full interview.

After the storm, Ohio State style

How much work can 28 people accomplish in a week? Just ask some small business owners in New Orleans.

In December, a group of Ohio State students travelled to Louisiana to help several small business owners struggling to get back on their feet in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They harvested citrus fruit, cleaned water-logged houses, restored greenhouses, and cleared debris from city parks, among other things.

The reward? Aside from pride in a job well done, the students got future invitations to Mardi Gras, all the fruit they could eat, and an unexpected compliment from a southern farmer: "You Yankee girls will work."

See a photo slide show of the students’ work.

How to buy a greener car

A recent Ohio State study found that the make of a car plays a huge factor in determining how much it pollutes. Age is important, too, while factors such as a car's weight and its number of cylinders don’t make much of a difference.

See how different makes rate.

Two-time Buckeye creates Alzheimer’s fund

Ash Chawla graduated from Ohio State not once but twice, with his his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in pharmacy. So when he decided he wanted to honor his mother, who died of Alzheimer’s, he knew where to look.

“Giving back to the university is my way of thanking the university community,” Chawla said. “My greatest hope is that one day research supported by this fund will result in a cure for this terrible disease.”

Read about his fund.

Back to you, Tom

Ohio State's John Glenn Institute is bringing TV news veteran Tom Brokaw to campus. The best part? You're invited, and it's free.

Brokaw, who anchored the NBC Nightly News for 21 years before retiring in 2004, will speak at 4 p.m. March 8, at the Mershon Auditorium. He'll talk about the Greatest Generation, his book about Americans who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II.

To get to the event, RSVP to 614-688-3206, extension 2, or e-mail mar8@jgippm.ohio-state.edu by March 3.

Nominate a Buckeye

What do astronaut Nancy Currie, cancer researcher Judah Folkman, and football coach Jim Tressel have in common? They have each received an Alumni Award from the Ohio State Alumni Association. Nominate a family member, friend, or colleague who has given outstanding service and support to a profession, a community, or Ohio State. Nominations will be accepted through March 31.

Learn more about the Alumni Awards. Then, fill out the nomination form.